Alphabet soup never had it so good. STOCK NAME GAME
Breaking the code
Ticker symbols can tell you more
than whose stock is tradingBy Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.comTake more than 7,000 publicly traded companies on the nation's three major stock exchanges, add one to five letters for flavoring, and what you've got is an identifying ticker symbol that is every bit as unique as your grandmother's secret recipe.
Sixteen years ago, when J.W.A. "Doc" Buyers was preparing to take ML Macadamia Orchards LP public, he was hoping the New York Stock Exchange wouldn't think he was nuts about wanting to use the letters NUT for his company's ticker symbol.
"I wanted to get that name out there," said Buyers, chairman of ML Macadamia and chairman and chief executive of the management company, ML Resources Inc. "This was a master limited partnership that was all about macadamia nuts. I was working with Merrill Lynch and Dean Witter to help sell this issue which was the equivalent of an IPO (initial public offering), although they didn't call it that in those days. We tried this name NUT and (the NYSE) said OK. I was surprised they would go for that although it's a very nice name. "
The company, which owns and grows macadamia nuts on the Big Island, was then known as Mauna Loa Macadamia LP. It changed its name in 1998 to ML Macadamia Orchards LP to eliminate confusion between itself and Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp., a privately held company that processes and markets the nuts under the Mauna Loa brand name.
Editor's note: To really test your ticker acumen, play the game BEFORE reading the story. NAME GAME
1. LUV A. Immucor 2. LTUS B. Cedar Fair 3. BLUD C. Tricon Global Restaurants 4. EAT D. Internet America 5. FUN E. Anheuser-Busch 6. RAYS F. Garden Fresh Restaurant 7. CASH G. Sunglass Hut* 8. BUD H. Southwest Airlines 9. GEEK I. Brinker International 10. YUM J. First Midwest Financial CORRECT ANSWERS
1. H., 2. F., 3. A., 4. I., 5. B., 6. G., 7. J., 8. E., 9. D., 10. C.
* Acquired by Luxottica Group SpA
"NUT is easy for people to remember," Buyers said. "If you ever watch stocks go by on TV, it's very hard to read those symbols and know what it is. But NUT jumps out at you every time."
Today, though, Buyers' ticker symbol doesn't seem far-fetched at all.
"It's like people who have a unique license plate," said Paul Loo, senior vice president of Morgan Stanley's Bishop Street brokerage. "There are some really cute license plates in town. I have STOX because I didn't want it to be quite as noticeable. It's nicer if a license plate characterizes your profession or something you like, but you don't want it to be so obvious.
"I remember Lawrence Welk having 'A1ANA2' and Jack Lord, of course, had 'FIVE-O'."
Buyers, meanwhile, still is as fond of the NUT name now as the day he first suggested it.
"NUT is a very unusual name and it's one we're still very proud of," he said. "Just remember, it's NUT and not nuts. The plural has a completely different meeting. "
Markethistory.com Editor Gibbons Burke said some companies regard their ticker symbol as a form of marketing.
"It's another way of branding the company image," he said. "Some companies are very concerned with image -- from business cards to stationery to signs that sit in front of the business to the look of the business to the street name."
As for ticker symbols, one of Burke's favorites is MU, which belongs to memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc.
"It's pretty cool and clever in a subtle way," Burke said. "The common symbol for micro is the Greek letter Mu, with the u having a tail on the left-hand side of it."
While the Greek analogy fits the ticker symbol, Micron spokesman Sean Mahoney said he had never heard that ticker explanation before. He said MU is a measurement symbol for micron, which is a unit the company deals with when it makes its memory chips. A human hair is said to be about 50 microns wide.
Meanwhile, the most sought-after ticker symbols are the one-letter variety. In 1998 when Chrysler merged with German automaker Daimler-Benz to become DaimlerChrysler AG, it relinquished its C ticker for DCX. Citigroup Inc. quickly dumped its CCI symbol and adopted the single-letter C. Today, due to acquisitions and a delisting, the letters H, I and M remain up for grabs. There has been speculation over the years that the NYSE would like to entice Intel Corp. (INTC) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) with the available I and M letter designations to make the jump to the Big Board from their current membership in the Nasdaq Stock Market.
"All I can say is that those letters are reserved but I can't say for whom," NYSE spokesman Ray Pellecchia said.
Pellecchia said the single-letter ticker symbols trace their history to the 1800s when the method of disseminating stock prices was via telegraph and the most active stocks were given one-letter symbols to conserve space.
"I think any company would jump at the idea of getting a one-letter symbol," said Burke of Markethistory.com. "It's like having a domain name. It's small and easy to remember. Stock addresses are very similar to URLs (on the Internet), like having the address of a company in a certain space. The fewer number of letters, the more memorable it is. If it's catchy, people remember that and may be more likely to buy it from a broker. For the company, it's all about raising capital and raising value for your shareholders."
The NYSE allows its member to have ticker symbols consisting of one to three letters while Nasdaq members have four or five letters.
"The fifth letter is often used to designate a special situation for a company," Burke said. "And the one letter you want to avoid (at the end of a ticker) is Q, which means a company is in bankruptcy proceedings."
That stigma, however, didn't stop telecommunications company Qwest Communications International Inc. from adopting the single-letter Q for its ticker.
"It may live up to its symbol," joked Burke in reference to the company's financial problems and the overall demise of the telecom sector.
And Compaq Computer (CPQ), whose merger with Hewlett-Packard Co. (HWP) closed Friday, still will retain the Q at the end of the combined company's ticker when the new Hewlett-Packard begins trading under HPQ Tuesday after a one-day suspension. The new ticker was created by adding the last two letters of Compaq's ticker. HP Chief Executive Carly Fiorina said the change was made to recognize the contribution of both companies.
For some companies, you are what you eat, or drink.
Among solid foods, Papa John's International Inc., whose pizza chain has been growing rapidly in Hawaii, goes by PZZA. Brinker International Inc., which operates, develops and franchises such eateries as Chili's Grill & Bar, is known as EAT. The Cheesecake Factory Inc., known for what its name implies, is simply CAKE. Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp., which operates salad buffet restaurants Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, is LTUS. Fresh Choice Inc., which operates restaurants under the Fresh Choice and Zoopa names, is SALD.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., however, lost some of its ticker symbol flavor last May when it moved from the Nasdaq to the NYSE. Since the NYSE doesn't allow its companies to have more than three letters in its ticker, Krispy Kreme had to change its symbol from KREM to KKD.
In the beverage sector, Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., known for its Budweiser beer among others, is BUD. The Boston Beer Co. Inc, which sells Samuel Adams, uses the symbol SAM.
Even sports venues have gotten into the act. Vail Resorts Inc, which operates ski resorts in Colorado, goes by MTN. Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns and operates Atlanta Motor Speedway among others, is TRK. National Golf Properties Inc., a real estate investment trust that owns golf properties, is TEE. .
Some companies that have since been acquired and no longer use their ticker symbols deserve some credit for ingenuity. Sunglass Hut International Inc., which was acquired last year by Italy's Luxottica Group SpA, used to go by RAYS. Cyberian Outpost Inc., an Internet-only retailer that sells consumer technology products, was COOL before it was acquired last year by Fry's Electronics Inc.
The medical profession also has its share of clever ticker symbols. Immucor Inc., whose products are used to detect and identify certain properties of the cell and serum components of blood, is BLUD. Genome Therapeutics Corp., a human genetics researcher, goes by GENE. Invivo Corp., which designs, manufactures and markets patient monitoring systems, is SAFE. And Genentech Inc., which discovers, develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals, is DNA. Dentsply International Inc., which has 80 percent of U.S. artificial teeth sales, is XRAY.
The airline industry's most interesting ticker symbol belongs to Southwest Airlines Inc., which goes by LUV. The name originates from its birthplace at Dallas' Love Field, as well as from a love theme in its early advertising campaign when it served love bites (peanuts) and love potions (drinks) to its passengers.
"It's a good way to reinforce what the company is all about," Burke said.
Some of the other unusual aeronautic ticker symbols come from Aerosonic Corp. (AIM), which manufactures aircraft instruments; Airlease Ltd. (FLY), which leases aircraft to passenger airlines and air freight companies; and AAR Corp. (AIR), which buys, sells and leases new and used commercial jet aircraft and engines.
Some companies simply use ticker symbols that describe their product or service. Those include Concord Camera Corp. (LENS), which manufactures and sells cameras; the Vermont Teddy Bear Co. (BEAR), which designs and manufactures teddy bears; Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM), which produces metal using explosives and shock synthesis; Internet America Inc. (GEEK), an Internet service provider; Cedar Fair LP (FUN), which owns and operates amusement parks, including Southern California's Knott's Berry Farm; Hotels.com (ROOM), which sells discounted hotel rooms on the Internet; Visx Inc. (EYE), which develops technologies and systems for laser vision correction; First Midwest Financial Inc. (CASH), the holding company for First Federal Savings Bank of the Midwest and Security State Bank; steel producers Olympic Steel Inc. (ZEUS) and Gibraltar Steel Corp. (ROCK); LaCrosse Footwear Inc. (BOOT); Harris & Harris Group Inc. (TINY), a venture capital investment company that invests in startups; Bottomline Technologies Inc. (EPAY), which develops electronic payment software; and Starwood Hotels & Resorts WorldWide Inc. (HOT), which manages or markets about a dozen hotel properties in Hawaii.
"I think companies try to use the easiest acronym for a ticker and sometimes it's a catchy three or four letters," Standard & Poor's Corp. analyst Stewart Scharf said. "Sometimes maybe those letters have been taken by another company and it may be forced to use something that strays from the idea of indicating what the company does."
One company decided to play its ticker symbol off its name rather than its business. Castleguard Energy Inc., which explores, acquires, develops and operates crude oil and natural gas properties, uses MOAT.
Some companies even grow into their ticker symbols. Take, for instance, Tricon Global Restaurants Inc., which owns Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell and goes by the ticker YUM. The chain, which is close to completing its purchase of Long John Silver's and A&W All American Food from closely held Yorkshire Global Restaurants, plans to change its name to Yum! Brands Inc. later this month.
Or, take the case of MMM, whose ticker symbol now matches the name of the company. The conglomerate previously was known as Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co., but it changed to the more recognizable 3M last month.